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Readout of Secretary Chu's Middle East trip: Tuesday, February 23

February 23, 2010 - 12:00am

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Today, Secretary Chu visited King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, on the Red Sea coast near Jeddah. His host was Saudi Minister of Petroleum and Minerals Ali Al Naimi, who is Chair of the KAUST Board of Trustees. KAUST is an international, graduate-level research university dedicated to science and technology that opened in September of 2009. The Secretary received a briefing on scientific work underway at the university from Professor Choon Fong Shih, President of KAUST, faculty members and students.

Secretary Chu emphasized the Administration's commitment to science and to the development of renewable sources of energy. He quizzed members of the faculty about their research on biomass and solar energy. He also toured the campus and visited some of the Research Centers, which focus on a range of areas including catalysis, geometric modeling and scientific visualization, and computational bioscience.